


4 a.m.

by Sandkopf



Category: Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nightmares, No Spoilers, Panic Attacks, set during book 2 but also readable for only series watchers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2016-06-05
Packaged: 2018-07-12 10:57:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7100125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sandkopf/pseuds/Sandkopf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: Magnus has a panic attack because of a nightmare about his parents and he calls Alec to calm himself down.</p>
            </blockquote>





	4 a.m.

The worst part wasn't his racing pulse hammering through his body or the sweat covering his skin or the swallowing darkness of his bedroom.

The worst thing for Magnus after having a nightmare was waking up and realizing he was alone. He sat on his bed, only his own quick breath audible and the pictures of his nightmare vividly dancing in front of his eyes.

Blood running down bodies, thick and red. Water covering the ground, crawling into his lungs. Faces he should have forgotten over time but were burned into his memory, clear and sharp like no one elses. Screams were ringing in his ears, explosions, the cracking of fire. And no one was here to distract him, to show him other pictures, to let him hear other sounds. His life was not constructed for him to find someone to live happily ever after with, might that be a family, a friend, a lover. He was cursed with immortality dooming him to lose everyone to death eventually. Gasping for air, Magnus convinced himself there was now actual liquid suffocating him. While concentrating on bringing his breathing back to a regular rhythm, he felt a sharp cramp in his leg, tensing up his body even more. In this state, he didn't dare to use magic to heal himself to he had to wait the pain out.

Frantically, Magnus shook his head. He couldn't let his thoughts consume him now. He had to calm down, had to relax. His eyes, used to the dark by now, searched for his phone on his nightstand. Uncharging it, he flipped it open and wanted to scroll through his contacts to call maybe Catharine or Ragnor, someone that functioned as an anchor in his endless time. But one of the first names, on top of his list, was a name Magnus had never imagined was worth saving.

Alec Lightwood.

Probably, this was the one person who could help less. Magnus wasn't even sure how to call him. A friend? Boyfriend? No word fitted the person he had about three or four dates with but felt irrationally pulled toward to. Though, his shaking finger was quicker than his mind and already pressed the call button holding the device to his ear.

While sharp toots cracked through the line, did Magnus realize that it was almost four a.m. and people usually slept at his time of the day. Though, it didn't take very long for a voice to appear in Magnus's ear, sounding tired but at least not ripped out of dreams.

"Hello?" Alec answered.

"Hey." Magnus said, his voice more of a weird mixture of cuts and breaks. "Why are you still up?" he asked. A weird thing to ask, being the one to call in the first place, but Magnus couldn't help himself.

"Uhm..." he heard. "I'm cleaning my weapons." Alec simply answered as if that explained everything. To him, to everyone else he usually talked to, it probably did.

Magnus frowned. In his life, he had heard a whole lot of excuses why people were still awake at ungodly hours so he wasn't prepared for a fist of truth thrown in his face. Overall, a weird truth.

"What?"

"I was hunting with my siblings and when I don't clean the ichor and dirt off my arrows immediately they become gross so I prefer doing it right away." Alec clarified.

Magnus pictured Alec in his head surrounded by arrows and peacefully cleaning them. His thoughts then wandered to Alec holding his bow and arrows, remembered the time he had seen him in action, the flex of his muscles, the concentrated expression, the firm posture of his body. A Shadowhunter in his element, strong and proud.

"Sorry, you probably didn't want to hear that." Alec apologized misinterpreting the silence Magnus had unintentionally created.

"No, no. It's alright."

"So why are you calling?"

"I..." Magnus was about to say he simply couldn't sleep, the number one excuse, so simple and distanced and wrong. "had a nightmare." he answered truthfully. Answering the honest explanation from Alec with a cliché lie was something Alec didn't deserve.

"Oh" he heard. Alec didn't deserve being lied to but Magnus wondered if he even deserved to be burdened with a warlock's problems he didn't even know that well. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Magnus couldn't really describe the appreciation he felt that moment. Here he sat on his bed, scared from a nightmare of the past and a Shadowhunter of all people was the one that helped him calm down. And succeeded. His heart was finding its original pace again, his body remembering to stop tensing up his muscles.

"No." Magnus whispered. "But could you tell me something?"

"Sure. What do you want me to tell you?"

"Anything. Just... I just need some distraction."

"Okay." Alec said, followed by an uncomfortable silence. Magnus could see him in his room, head thinking hard of a story he could tell. Even though they didn't know each other that well, Magnus had already figured out that using words was not his favored and best skill. Instead, he communicated with his expressions and body language, so it must be hard to have this very unexpected phone call right now.

In that moment, Magnus feared that it probably had been a bad idea to call Alec after all, seeing that he just made him uncomfortable and was just about to apologize when Alec's voice came through again.

"You know, my Mom always sang me a song when I was young and couldn't sleep." he said. "Though, if I sing you'll probably get more nightmares but the lyrics tells a story and I like it. So, uhm, do you know French?"

A smile pulled on Magnus's face. "Yeah, I know French quite well."

"Okay, so here the lyrics go."

And then Alec started to tell a story, his deep voice so soft and protective, which was enough of a melody for Magnus to calm down again.

**Author's Note:**

> promptformalec.tumblr.com  
> twitter.com/sandkopf
> 
> come scream with me about stuff


End file.
